Creative Staff:
Story: Jeff Lemire
Art: Dustin Nguyen
Letterer: Steve Wands
What They Say:
“SINGULARITIES,” Part Four. At long last the story of the mysterious QUEEN BETWEEN is revealed and her connection to Andy and Tim-21 will rock the galaxy.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
While a lot of people disliked the previous installment of this series with its focus on Bandit, I came away pretty happy with it because it was a welcome expansion and side story to what’s been going on within the larger framework that Lemire and Nguyen are putting together. You have to have these kinds of moments otherwise it becomes too weighty and heavy as it progresses with issue after issue. This installment gets us back to what most people are looking for, to some degree, as it’s another Singularities issue that focuses on the past with a light nod to what’s going on in the present. I continue to like how Lemire and Nguyen have handled all of this as I’m feeling even more invested in these characters now than I already was. And there’s only one more installment to go before we go full barrel into the next arc, so the buildup is certainly there.
This issue puts its focus on Andy and Effie, aka the Queen Between, and it works really well to give us more of both of them in an important way. Seeing Andy when the ship arrives after escaping from the mining colony is definitely good as he starts to understand that his mother won’t be following him and his life in an orphanage is about to begin. It’s here that he meets the young Effie, a budding genius to be sure, and the two of them hit it off in the way that kids do. Taking us through a few periods there with them as they grow closer as friends with her wanting more, it’s a good insight into Effie and why she does follow him when he flees the orphanage and the planet to join up with a scrapper crew. His hatred of robbies grew immensely as time went on and likely made worse by seeing so many other refugees with their suffering as well.
But it’s what happens to Andy as time goes on that really provides the catalyst for change here as she kept hoping they could find a better way to do things whereas he just wants to clean up the galaxy of the evil he sees in the robbies. He’s sinking deeper into this role and she just wants out, which leads her to the path that we know her from the present day. What we see through the flashbacks is the harshness of how she got there with her face and arm and how she put herself fully into trying to stop the Gnishu from destroying life as they see it. Artificial life is life is one of the regular signs we see and looking at it through the lens of the protesters and those that suffered so much from the attacks makes for an engaging time as it all comes back to the present.
In Summary:
Descender has another solid entry in the Singularities arc of character backstories that we’ve been getting. Lemire may be taking a risk with some readers in doing something like this but it’s worked exceptionally well for me as a whole because it’s made me even more invested in their stories and pasts within the context of the present. It’s also given Dustin Nguyen a chance to explore these character at different ages and showing their growth and changes over the course of it, which is always interesting. He essentially nails this book once again from start to finish and I always feel bad for not say much beyond it looks like perfection to me. I can’t imagine this book working like it does in the hands of most other artists because his style and the coloring just separates it in a way that it needs to be. I love how it has elements of 70’s style science fiction mixed with 80’s character designs and today’s sensibilities. It’s just fantastic.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 17+
Released By: Image Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: September 28th, 2016
MSRP: $2.99